A day trip away from madness

Eve and I decided to get away from the madness and visit zouzhou and it's famous gardens. The morning started early with a 2 hour train trip kinda, south-west. Most of which I slept through. On arrival at our leafy destination and a quick check of a guide book, we walked through the crazy, city streets, in search of one of it's best temples and bell towers. Not hard to miss. It was the big red building sticking 7 levels up in to the air! We caused quiet a stir yet again, as Eve was attracting heaps of attention, being blonde. Ah, all in a days work really. Must keep the locals entertained.
We reached the entrance to the Bell tower and after paying a hefty entrance fee, we climbed up the multitude of steep, steps to the top. It was a brisk morning and the cold morning air burnt my throat. The view from the top was magnificent and we could see across the city and it's fantastic gardens and Hutongs. It was well worth the slog up. After we climbed down, something which took me forever, as I was stuck behind a two year old, who wanted to do it all on his own. The stairs were so narrow, there was no opportunity of overtaking! My only opportunity was to run between staircases. Somehow, this super natural toddler, always seemed to beat me to the top of the next staircase. Makes me wonder? What did he eat for breakfast?
So, as I was saying, we made it to the bottom and found our way to one of the largest and most famous gardens in the town. The National holiday seemed to have attracted many people and we found it really difficult to look around. We were shoulder to shoulder and the tranquil surroundings seemed lost on us. I could appreciate that, during a regular time, not when the whole nation is on holidays,it would be a beautiful scenic spot. A place to come for contemplation and relaxation. Not bumper to bumper body contact and close proximity to strangers.
The next stop on our agenda was lunch...Or a late breakfast. I'm a real fan of the dumpling. The steamed dumpling, that comes in a wicker basket, full of yummy goodness. Eve however, is not. So we settled on a noodle soup hole in the wall. This was not your usual noodle soup joint but a freshly made, right in your face, noodle shop. The little man, with well developed arm muscles, may I say, rolled and pulled and flicked fresh dough in the air, on the bench and then expertly, dropped it into the boiling broth. From the boiling broth into our bowls and down our gullets. Fantastic!
Full and revived, we decided to tackle the main, mall-like street which boasted, yet another temple, surrounded by a market. On the way to the temple I became a warrior protector. Deflecting sly photo opportunities, from mobile phones, of Eve. At one point, I actually grabbed the phone from a man's hands and told him it's rude not to ask for a photo. I know she's a tourist attraction to people but nothing invades your privacy more than someone taking a sly photo, or, staring and pointing. I felt like I had to protect her from other peoples rudeness and it really upset me that I had to do this. She was appreciative of my efforts, even if they proved futile.
Coming across the temple, we hoped that it would give us a reprieve from the see of stares but we walked in to a bustling market area with a small temple, as it's centre piece. It was a great excuse to walk the back streets back to the train station and discover the Hutong culture, that lay behind the busy city streets.
We discovered small walkways with little food carts, kids riding rusty bicycles, old women making decorative designs with potted plants and crazy moto-cyclo men zipping through the small lanes. On the canals, snaking through the Hutongs, men rowed past in rickety old boats picking up trash and tourist boats leisurely floated by. The Hutongs are my favorite part of China. I love the closeness of the housing and the culture the buzzes away inside the walls and down the small alley ways.
Before long, we were back in the heart of the city and back to the hustle and bustle of reality. Too soon we were on the train back to Shanghai.

Shanghai on National holiday

Or maybe it was?
Shanghai, on National Holiday, had the population of Australia gathered in it's People's park. A scary thought and even a scarier sight!
Eve and I decided to go to the Modern Museum of Art. Something we knew would be a challenge but didn't really realize, what a challenge, it really would be. Brave and well fed, we ventured a walk to the Jade Buddha Temple. We were pretty successful and made it there pretty much unscathed. Just a few photo's of us with locals, along the way.
The population of a small country town was gathered inside the temple walls, so it was a bit difficult to see the actually Jade Buddha. Just watching the locals celebrating and praying was enough of a cultural experience and we left happy and seeking our next destination.
After a long wait and practically jumping in to a moving taxi, we found our way to Remnin Park (People's Park).
Oh, My, God! It was a sea of back hair (plus the occasional Blonde colour gone orange!) people were shoulder to shoulder. It was as if we had come across a wall of protection and there was no way to penetrate the wall. That's the upside of hanging out with a Blonde. The wall parted like Jesus and the red sea. It was great. Like a modern miracle.
After a few lewd tongue gestures from an old, disgusting man and the usual grunts and stares from the crowd, we made it to the Museum. As we entered we we greeted by a huge LCD display of the communal weight, of the people, in the museum. Kinda a scary thought really. We proceeded through the gallery looking at some fantastic work but soon, we became tired of banging shoulder to shoulder with the population. So we seeked out lunch. Something you think would be easy but with the entirety of the Australian population, in one place, just getting to the street corner was tiresome. Then it started to bucket down! Bloody give me a break. Now I was cold, hungry and bloody exhausted!
Eventually we found a great little bento box restaurant, with great food, at the cost of a chocolate bar. China is exhausting at the best of times but this was going to kill me....Especially after trying to book a onward ticket to Qingdao.
After a few hours Eve and I found the ticket office, lined up for and hour and was told there wouldn't be any tickets, anywhere, for at least a week!
What!
My time was running out and I still had a few places I wanted to see! Eeeekkk.
What's a woman to do. After consultation with a few people, I decided I had to sacrifice a few destinations and treat myself to a flight. I was going to head straight to Beijing after Shanghai. This way I was still on track and it seemed like my only option for moving in the next week or so. Oh well, the sacrifices we make.

The King of Lions or The Lion King????????

After a good meal and a lie down, Gillian and I recovered from our little adventure at the clothes market. When we were lounging around on the bunks, in our room, we met Yama. A Chinese born girl, living in Korea, dating a Malaysian- Australian...Got it? Don't worry it took me a bit too.
Anyway, she asked me if I wanted to join her that evening, at the theatre, to see the King of Lions. MMmmm. I was tempted but I wanted to clarify that it was in English and the cost of the tickets. Well, Yes, it was English and as for the cost of the tickets, well, that would be determined by the scalper out the front of the theatre. The ones we would be buy the tickets from. The ones Scalping the tickets from out the front. MMMmmm. This is illegal at home and I was a bit concerned about it's legality here. Yama informed me that this was normal practice out the front of theatres in China. Apparently, business people are given the tickets, then resell them out the front of the theatre for a nice profit!
Good. Something that benefits both. Cheap tickets for us and a nice profit for some rich business executive! (Note the sarcasm)
Anyway, I was willing to give it a go. Even if it meant a night in lock up, explaining my situation to my consulate. So, all dolled up, Yama and I headed towards the theatre, only stopping for a hearty meal at a local get up. All expenses paid by Yama's absent boyfriend.
Out the front of the Shanghai Royal Theatre (a very posh looking building) I let Yama work her magic and finer skills of the Chinese language, to secure us VIP seats to The Lion King. The actual Lion King. The successful production that has toured the world. Here I was thinking I was seeing something I had never heard of! Lost in translation I guess. All for the price of about 50 bucks! Couldn't ask for better really.
It was amazing and low and behold, the Chinese were well behaved. Yama was like sitting next to a kid. In fact the whole theatre was like a bunch of kids. Enthusiastic about all that they saw on stage......
Maybe Chins isn't so bad after all?

Shanghai Markets

For some strange reason I felt, after only a few hours sleep, I was able to cope with the clothes market. My motive was a broken zip on my jeans. All I wanted was a dressmaker to fix my zips and get the hell out of the place. Gillian was brave enough to come with me. I knew that it was going to be hell but I didn't realize that it may cause me to come close to physically assaulting someone. The first second off the bus and a tout approaches us asking us "What is it you want?". Gillian and I run to the safety of the shops, hoping we've lost the tout. To no avail. We are only approached by several more. This only adds to the frustration of being asked, by every shop owner to,"come buy from me". It's like being a celebrity, only it's your wallet that is getting all the fame. Meat with pockets. That's all we are.
After several "No thank you's" that were gradually becoming more aggressive, Gillian and I finally found the floor that had a seamstress able to fix my zip. 20mins she said. We decided to find somewhere to eat, since breakfast was hours ago and this situation was draining us of all energy. Outside and across the road, we came across the same situation, so we promptly returned to the center where my jeans were being tended to. At least this way we knew where to hide from the touts.
On the way back in we were approached by yet another, in your face tout, who didn't get the message. Boiyow (I don't want) just didn't seem to have any effect, no matter what tone you used. So I decided to try "Go away" that seemed to only be a hilarious statement and only encouraged our little mate to piss us off more. Okay I went in with the big guns. "F**K OFF". This had the same effect. Having someone two steps behind you, in a crowed situation, in your ear, does something to a woman. When I raised my bag, above my head, in rage and took a swing, I hoped this would get the message across. Instead he laughed and continued on in my ear. Only when I actually got my hand on his shirt did he get the message and like a cockroach, he scurried back to his hole. I was fuming and the fact that, an hour later, my jeans were still sitting in a heap where I left them, didn't help. After seeing my face and telling the lady that I really wanted to get outta here, before I killed someone, prompted her in to swift and cheap action!
Next time I decided to venture in to a Market in China, with little sleep, remind me of the benefits of a strong Vallium! and a good lunch.